Maggie resists learning cursive writing in the third grade, until she discovers that knowing how to read and write cursive promises to open up an entirely new world of knowledge for her.

The part of third grade Ellen Tebbits likes most is having Austine Allen for her best friend.

The adventures of a nine-year-old twin brother and sister who, despite constant bickering and fighting, support each other loyally in learning to read and spell, memorizing the multiplication tables, confronting the school bully, and making friends.

Six-year-old Ramona tries to cope with an unsympathetic first-grade teacher. In this touching and funny story, the ebullient Ramona, feeling brave and grown-up, enters first grade. Quickly she finds that her new teacher, Mrs. Griggs, appears perplexed by pupils who like to be different. Since Ramona cannot help being different, clearly the two are incompatible. Nevertheless, Ramona can be counted on to keep things lively. Enraged when Susan copies...

Now that Ramona is eight years old, she's doing all kinds of things she's never done before. She's in a new school with a new teacher, and best of all, she takes the school bus-all by herself! But since her mother works and her daddy's in art school, Ramona has to stay with old Mrs. Kemp every day until Beezus comes for her. And as if all that isn't bad enough, she has to be nice to four-year-old Wila Jean. Ramona knows the family is depending on...

When Shelley leaves Oregon to spend the winter in California, she feels she is the happiest girl in the world, for in her new high school, she meets Philip--the "only boy." A sixteen-year-old girl gains perspective into herself and her family when whe leaves her comfortable Oregon home and spends a year visiting with friends in California... She learns, in the midst of the friendly Michie family, that there are many ways to be oneself, and many different...

When Ralph and his pesky cousins accidentally make a mess at the Mountain View Inn, Ralph decides that he'd better take his motorcycle and leave. He persuade his young pal Ryan to take him to school, where Ralph is an instant hit with Ryan's classmates. But Ralph doesn't like being told what to do. Worse than that, his precious motorcycle gets broken.

Ramona's year in third grade is highlighted by the arrival of Howie's rich Uncle Hobart, a change in her after-school situation, a surprise wedding, a death and a new arrival in the family, and her father's getting a job.

In his letters to his favorite author, ten-year-old Leigh reveals his problems in coping with his parents' divorce, being the new boy in school, and generally finding his own place in the world.